Astoria's Story
by depthofeyes
Summary: Astoria and Draco had a strange relationship. They weren't ordinary and they weren't sappy. But they sure were in love. *Disclaimer* I do not own these character's, all credit goes to J.K. Rowling.


**Astoria's Story**

_Astoria's POV_

I guess you could say that Draco was an old family friend of mine. We had known each other since I was four, and considered appropriate to be presented to the outside world. Of course, he had been six, and much more interested in my elder sister, Daphne, than me.

There had been rumors of an arranged marriage between the two, you see.

Obviously, Daphne had been thrilled at the prospect. Marrying into the Malfoy name, being waited on by countless house-elves, being at the top of the pure-blood community. The idea was marvelous to a six year old. She did all she could to ensure that their marriage would indeed be arranged, including kissing Narcissa Malfoy's pure-blood…You get the point.

Draco, on the other hand, was the perfect gentleman. That is, to Daphne and my parents.

Me? No, no, no. Why on earth would a Malfoy actually be _nice _to me, Astoria, the first Ravenclaw Greengrass in _years._

Even as a child, Malfoy had not been kind to me. When I was seven, and he was nine, he had managed to turn my pale skin orange, in front of hundreds of the pure-blood community at a dinner party. His cronies, Goyle, Crabbe, Zabini, Nott, Parkinson, and worst of all, my _sister _had all laughed until they were pink. Pansy wasn't so much of a pink as puce.

When he learnt that I had been sorted into Ravenclaw, he had charmed my beloved cat, Oslo, green! Oh, my poor baby, he was so confused! And Malfoy's group thought he was the cleverest person to ever breath, save the Dark Lord. And so began Draco Malfoy's hobby of hexing my cat, daily.

One day, Oslo was toothless. The next, he had no fur. Soon he was walking backwards, he couldn't speak, and he was talking in Chinese. He thought he could fly once, and threw himself off a banister, only to fall on my head.

But I managed to find a way to pay Malfoy back.

I taught Oslo to play dead whenever somebody pointed a wand at him. I managed to hide behind a column in one of the hallways and let my poor cat out to walk right where Malfoy and his posse were.

"Oy! Draco! It's Astoria's cat!" I heard Zabini say, mirthfully. "What are you going to do to it?"

Malfoy looked around, a smirk on his face. Before bending down and whispering to Oslo  
"I don't even know why Greengrass loves you so much. I mean, your face looks like you were run over, you're fat, and what color are you supposed to be, yellow? You're probably not even pure."

Then he stood up, drew out his wand, looked behind his shoulder at his pals, and said, "Look what I can do!"

And he pointed his wand at Oslo.

But before he could say any words, Oslo was 'dead'.

"Ooooh, Draco, I didn't know that you could do nonverbal spells! What did you use on him?" Pansy asked, giggling wildly.

Draco looked at the cat with his mouth wide-open. He slowly turned around to his friends, and said these few intelligent words "But I, there is, can't be, he was, I didn't, butt whhyyy?"

I took the opportunity to cast a nonverbal Freezing spell on Oslo, which would make him cold, and keep him from moving. I struggled to control my laughter.

"Is he-Is he _dead?" _Daphne asked, covering her mouth in horror. "Theo, is he _dead?" _she was asking Nott, the self-proclaimed genius of the group.

He walked over shakily, before kneeling next to Oslo, and touching his fur.

He gasped. "He's dead!"

"No!" Daphne cried out. "Astoria's going to be destroyed! Oh, Draco, can't you fix it?"

Pansy was tearing up too. "Drakey, can you bring him back? I mean, Astoria didn't deserve this, the cat didn't deserve this, can you, can you fix him?"

And while the Slytherin idiots were busy blubbering, I made my way to the back of the hallway, before pretending to walk around the corner, my nose in a book.

I heard a gasp.

"T-t-tori?" Daphne said.

I looked up, saw my sister, and smiled. "Hi Daph." I looked around at her friends, and gave them a nod, before looking down and seeing my cat for the first time.

"Oh, there's Oslo! Oh, I've been looking for him all day, is he sleeping?" I said bubbly, feigning innocence.

I put my book away in my bag, and reached out to pick him up, only to find that my outstretched arms were blocked.

"Greengrass," Malfoy said breathlessly, "You're-"

"Oh, Draco, just call me Astoria! Or even Tori if you prefer, I mean, we have known each other for ever!" I said sweetly, watching him stew in his own guilt.

"Um, right,' he swallowed. "Astoria. Your cat. He's, er, well, he's _dead."_

I let that sink in. I closed my eyes dramatically, and flared my nostrils.

Now I had two options:  
1. I could scream at Malfoy and hex him until he was purple.  
2. I could just sit down and cry.

Now which would bug Malfoy the most?

I let myself fall to the ground and cry. I looked at Oslo's lifeless body from between Malfoy's legs, and cried, before wrapping my arms around his left one.

"Tori – " I heard Daphne try.

"No!" I said, my voice realistically raspy. "Just go! All of you!"

And so they left.

Except for Draco Malfoy, whose left leg was currently being squeezed to death by me.

"Um, Greengrass, if you could just, well, let go of my leg, I'll just be leaving."

"Draco," I cried pitifully. "Draco, why did you do it? Why did you kill my kitty?" I looked up into his face, letting him see my sad, sad, little first-year face.

He froze.

Good. Now he couldn't run away.

I let go of his leg and held Oslo, and went to sit on a nearby step.

I let myself just cry over the lifeless little body, before feeling a hand on my back, and heard Malfoy's voice. "There, there,' he said uncomfortably. 'Everything is, er, all right."

Ohhh, the joy of making Malfoy feel bad.

I stood up and slapped him, before saying, "That's for turning Oslo green, making him toothless, furless, unable to speak, walking backwards, being able to speak in Chinese, and making him jump off the banister, _and _for trying to curse him today."

I took out my wand and performed a spell which made Oslo his regular temperature, as well as allowing him to move.

"What?" Malfoy asked, his mouth, once again, wide open.

"I'm a Ravenclaw, Malfoy. I _know _things."

And with that I walked away.

After the "Oslo Occurrence", Malfoy left me alone, for the most part. Aside from a little teasing – which was to be expected from a Malfoy – he stayed to himself. He ditched my sister, and let Pansy into his life. Zabini and Nott were mostly kicked out, and Crabbe and Goyle became his body guards.

Once, when he had come back home, Daphne had cried into my shoulder, telling me about it.

"He told me that I was too good for him, that I could do better, and to keep my distance from him if I knew what was g-g-good for me! And now Pansy won't even look at me!" and she burst out sobbing.

As I whispered comforting words in her ear, and rubbed her back, I tried to wrap my mind around this new Malfoy. This new Malfoy, who tried to keep his friends out of trouble; that suddenly realized that he was a danger to those whom he loved.

Apparently he didn't love Parkinson enough.

After the war, all that he had done was suddenly public. It was his fault that Dumbledore was dead; the Death Eaters had broken into the school because of him.

He was the youngest Death Eater, and because of that, the most gossiped about.

The Malfoy name was suddenly shunned from the pure-blood society; the Parkinson's lost all interest in him, as did my parents.

I heard them speaking to Daphne one night.

"Mother, Father, I was hoping that I would be allowed to go visit an old friend tomorrow morning."

Because Daphne was unmarried, she was still required to get permission from my parents to go see friends, even if she was twenty-one. Me being nineteen, the rules were even stricter.

"Who is it?" my father always was the one to get to the point.

"Just an old friend from Hogwarts."

"Does this old friend have a name?" my mother asked.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," my sister said from between clenched teeth.

"No, you are not permitted to speak to the Malfoy boy. I don't want you anywhere near him. His family is no longer…._admirable." _My father was very careful with his wording.

"…Very well," my sister said, before running out of the room in tears.

I was expecting her in my room, and when she burst through the doors and into my arms, I wasn't as surprised as I should have been.

"Tori? Could I ask a favor from you?" she said.

"Sure, sure, whatever you need," I said, not thinking much of it.

"Will you speak to Draco for me?"

I was not expecting those words to come out of my rule-abiding sister's mouth.

"But father just told us not to-"

"He told _me _not to. Astoria, please? It will only be this one time, and it will only be like fifteen minutes. And it's not like mom and dad would have a reason to be pissed at you. I promise I won't ask for anything ever again." She looked at me with her best puppy dog face.

I sighed.

"That's a lie. But I'll do it." I admit, I was curious. I wanted to see what the now secluded Malfoy heir was like.

"Good girl. I've sent an owl asking him to meet me at a little Muggle café at 12:30 for lunch. Now that you're going, you'll probably just tell him the message and then leave, but it doesn't matter. Here's the address," she handed me a piece of paper.

"Okay. What's the message?" I asked.

"I want you to tell him…' she took a breath. 'That I forgive him, and I understand."

"….Alright."

The next morning I woke up early. You can't blame me for wanting to look good on a date with a very good looking guy.

…..I didn't mean date. Meeting….Right.

I carefully curled my blonde hair, and put on some lip-gloss. I wore Muggle attire: a pale pink dress with a brown belt. I wanted to look good, okay?

I Apparated to a spot that was in walking distance from the café. I looked at my watch. I was five minutes late.

Perfect.

I walked in with a look of indifference on my face, scanning the tables for him. My eyes stopped on a blonde head with a newspaper for a face. I walked towards him. I saw that people were staring at me. I was used to this.

I had….Grown into my body as I got older. I was 5'8 and tall, thin, and blonde, with shockingly green eyes. I wore almost no make-up, except for some pink lip-gloss. I was the complete opposite of my sister. Daphne was 5'5, curvier than me, a brunette, and she had blue eyes. She spent most of her free time trying to get the perfect tan, and piling on make-up.

So we were both used to attention from the other gender. I could have easily handled this situation, had I not been a little unnerved by the fact that he hadn't seen me yet.

As it was, Malfoy hadn't looked up from his newspaper. I slid into the seat across from him quietly.

"Hello, Draco," I spoke softly.

He didn't even twitch.

"Astoria,' he set down his paper. 'I thought I was seeing your sister today."

I saw his eyes taking in my new appearance, but his facial expression didn't change, save for the fact that his eyes were a little wider.

"My parents wouldn't let her."

He bowed his head. "I understand."

"She sent me with a message."

He looked up, into my eyes. I was stunned. Was it possible to have silver eyes?

He took my hand, and I swear, if I hadn't had years of learning to keep on the mask of indifference, I would have fainted.

Was he always this good looking?

"And pray tell, what was this message?"

"Hi, welcome to Cynthia's, can I get you something to drink?" a waitress busy doodling on her paper said. She looked up, and saw Draco's intense look. "O-oh. I'll just…come back then."

I swallowed. I really wanted to follow her.

"Daphne wanted…She wanted to tell you that she….." Why did I feel so stupid?

All of a sudden I was blinded by a flash. Then more.

"Damn it," Draco growled. "Paparazzi. That's alright, though. We'll just go to my place."

He stood up, and I almost fainted. Again. He was wearing grey skinny jeans and a black leather jacket. He ran a hair through his messy blonde hair, before grabbing my hand and leading me to the spot I had arrived at.

He Apparated us to an…Apartment?

"This is where I've been living,' he said, smiling ruefully. "I can't stand my father. It's better to be by myself."

"I know what you mean," I agreed whole-heartedly. "As soon as I turn twenty, I'm out."

He had taken out his wand and unlocked the door, before hurrying me inside. He suddenly stopped abruptly.

"You're not twenty yet?"

"I'm nineteen."

"Oh."

"Yes."

"So…that message?"

We were sitting across a coffee table in his surprisingly large apartment. More like a penthouse.

"Um. Well I feel ridiculous saying this, it's not my words, it's all Daphne's so please don't judge me-"

"Astoria."

"She wants to say she forgives you!" I blurted out.

He just stared at me for a minute, before he started to laugh.

"She forgives me?" he laughed. "After I saved her life, she forgives me?" He stood up and grabbed a tea cup on the table, before throwing it at a wall.

It shattered.

"Does she think I wanted to leave her? Does she think I wanted Pansy over her? I was trying to keep her safe, that bimbo!"

I stood up quickly.

"Don't call my sister a bimbo!"

He stopped laughing and looked at me. He walked over closer and stood in front of me, no, _towered _over me. He must have been 6'2.

"Or what?" he growled.

"Or I'll slap you." I said, trying to look as tough as him.

He laughed. "It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

I felt like we were in Hogwarts again- like I was a first-year, and he a third-year. So I did what any reasonable first-year would do. I stuck my tongue out at him.

He grabbed me and slammed his lips against mine, before pushing me against the wall. I gasped, shocked.

This was the first time I had ever had a kiss like this. My first had been with Zabini at the Yule Ball, but that had just been a peck on the lips. I had never been kissed so roughly, I had always been treated like I was made of glass.

I loved this.

I returned his kiss, desperately, grabbing his hair, just letting it all happen. We finally ran out of air, and our lips separated. He kissed my neck, and I gasped. He ran his fingers through my hair and I moaned. We moved apart and he looked down at me, and I looked up at him.

"Move in with me," he growled, his tone demanding.

"Okay," I gasped, out of breath.

Two hours later, I returned to the Greengrass Manor. I rushed to my room, and packed a bag, magically expanding it so that I could fit anything I needed in it.

Daphne ran into my room. "Tor! Finally, you're back, how'd it go- wait, why are you packing?"

I looked up at her. "I'm moving in with Draco."

"What?" she asked, her mouth wide open. "But-but, you can't, he's- oh no, no, no!"

"Yes, I can, and I will," I grunted. I peeled off my dress and pulled on a pair of black jeans and a white tank top.

"But mother and father are going to be pissed!" she squealed. "But don't worry, I'll back you up."

I looked up at my sister and smiled. "Thanks, Daph."

"Oh, and Tori! Guess what? Theo proposed!" and she shoved a big shiny ring in my face.

"That's great Daph! I'm happy for you, love," and I hugged her. I zipped up my bag, and headed towards the door.

"Forgetting something?" Daphne said.

I turned around and saw that she was holding my wand, smirking.

"Thanks, sis."

I walked out the door and headed down the stairs, levitating my bag.

"Astoria. Astoria! Where on earth are you going, and where in Slytherin's name have you been?" my father shouted at me.

At this point, I was at the door.

"Father, Mother, I'm moving in with Draco Malfoy. I was with him today, and you won't stop me." I nodded curtly, before opening the door.

Draco was there. He nodded at my parents, took my suitcase, and asked me, "Ready, love?"

I nodded.

"Astoria! Astoria _wait!"_

And Draco Side-Apparated me into his apartment.

Draco Malfoy and I lived together for two-years in that penthouse/apartment as boyfriend and girlfriend, until he got me pregnant and asked me to marry him.

He may have had a 'troubled past', but I didn't give a damn.

He was snarky, sexy, rough, insensitive, and for some reason, in love with me.

And I loved him back.

**AN: Oh my goodness. I haven't wrote a story like this before, but I kind of love it. I don't know, maybe it really sucks and I'm just flattering myself. Review with your own opinion?**


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